Protector
by Lonicera Japonica
Summary: Luffy gets seriously injured protecting Nami, and she wonders, not for the first time, what could possibly motivate him to be so stupid.


Nami cried as she dragged Luffy back to the ship, from anger more than anything else. The _idiot_, the insufferable, stupid _moron_. When he came to she was going to _murder _him. If he came to. No, of course he was going to wake up. He was clearly too stupid to know how to die, anyway.

But she cried anyway, only because she was furious, with Luffy's lifeless body draped over her back and his warm, sticky blood soaking quickly through his vest and seeping into the back of her top. She pulled him up the ramp, crying and furious and weakened for it, and didn't have the heart or the strength to throw his body onto the deck like he deserved. Instead, she carefully laid him down and knelt next to him, curling forward and resting her head against his collar bone, both of them now wet with tears and blood.

"Shit," said Zoro, who had emerged from below deck when he heard his crewmates approach. He could see from where he stood that Luffy was still breathing, if shallowly, so he went to Nami and pulled her up by the shoulders. "Are you okay? What happened? Who did this? Where are you bleeding?" He said it more harshly than he had planned, and was suddenly faced with a hysterically sobbing navigator who clearly wasn't in any condition to give answers.

"It isn't my– We were shopping, and– He, he, it's my fault, he was trying to–" she broke down, knees giving out, and Zoro lowered her carefully to the deck before checking Luffy's pulse. Weak. Shit.

"N-Nami?" asked Usopp, who had just appeared and was staring at the bloody spectacle on the Going Merry's deck. "Luffy!" he added, and took a step forward, but Zoro flung out an arm in his direction to halt him.

"Get Chopper."

"Are they–"

"Usopp, go get Chopper. Now."

Usopp stared from Zoro to Nami to Luffy, opened his mouth, closed it, and ran back below deck at full speed.

"Where are Sanji and Robin?" Zoro asked as he ran one hand over Nami's back, checking for the origin of the blood coating her shirt. "Are they hurt?"

"No, they, they're still shopping. Zoro–"

"Chopper's coming," Zoro said, attempting to keep Nami from panicking. Hesitantly, he peeled the back of her shirt up and examined her back, which seemed to be unharmed. "Where are you hurt?"

"M'not," she said, sniffling, but beginning to calm down. "It's Luffy's."

"Oh," Zoro said, lowering her top and running a hand through his hair, relieved. Luffy could lose that much blood and come out on top, but Nami–

"What's going on?" asked Chopper, one hoof on Zoro's shoulder and the other holding his medical bag. He had his Doctor Face on, the one that meant business, and that things were going to be okay.

"I don't know," said Zoro. He stood up and looked down at the shaken navigator and wounded captain, perplexed and worried.

Chopper went right to work, pulling open Luffy's vest and inspecting the damages. There was a sizeable puncture wound through his gut, but whatever had inflicted the injury had missed any vital organs.

"He'll be fine, once I stop the bleeding," Chopper announced, digging around in his medical bag. "Usopp, help me get him onto the table. Nami?"

"She's fine," Zoro said, and Chopper paused, nodded, and shifted to human form to help carry Luffy into the galley.

Sanji and Robin showed up seconds later, cheery mood evaporating instantly at the sight of Nami crouched on the deck, looking lost and pained, with a swordsman covered in secondhand blood kneeling at her side.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, worry evident in her eyes as she transferred her bags to another set of hands and stooped next to Nami.

Zoro filled her in and made room for Sanji, who, he had to concede, would probably have more luck comforting the traumatized navigator than he would. With a concerned backward glance, he went into the galley to check on his captain.

Later, after Luffy was stitched and bandaged and Nami had been calmed down and provided with tea, courtesy of the resident cook, everyone sat down around the mattress someone had dragged into the galley and on which their injured captain rested.

"We were out shopping," Nami began, clutching her tea and keeping her eyes fixed on Luffy's face. "I was making him carry the groceries, and I told him that if he dropped anything or put the bags down I would kill him. And…I turned a corner, and there was–" She paused. "There was a really, really big guy, with a really, really sharp knife. He grabbed me by the arm–"

"If he harmed one hair on your head I will hunt him down and kick his lungs out through his throat," Sanji snapped, starting to stand up, but Robin dragged him back down with a gentle hand and pinned him by the knee with another.

"He grabbed me by the arm and held the knife against my throat and tried to drag me away, but Luffy spotted him and attacked…but he didn't put the groceries down. He had to attack with just his feet, and the guy, he…" She stopped again, face twisted into a mixture of rage and regret. "He stabbed Luffy right in the stomach and pinned him to the wall, and he couldn't get away, so he was just kicking, and…well, he got him. I kind of doubt the guy will ever walk right again. But by the time he was done and the slimeball had crawled off, he'd lost so much blood…I had to pull the knife out and carry him back." Tears were streaming down her face again. "It's all my fault…"

"It's not," Zoro said flatly.

"He'd have gotten himself into trouble without you," Usopp added.

"And you're the one who carried him back," Robin finished.

Nami managed a small smile for her nakama, but she sipped her tea in pained silence. Eventually, everyone drifted away and went to bed with Chopper's assurance that Luffy would recover soon with no lasting damage. Nami stayed, despite Robin's request that she come to bed.

About ten past midnight, Nami was awakened by Luffy stirring at her side. She blinked and sat up, wondering when exactly she had curled up on top of the sheets next to the captain, a question that was quickly eclipsed by the realization that Luffy was awake and staring at her.

"Hi Nami," he said, sounding perfectly cheerful, if a bit sleepy. "What are you doing here?"

"You _idiot_," Nami hissed, jumping up and jabbing an accusatory finger at the bewildered young man. "You got _stabbed_ and I had to carry you all the way back to the ship on my back! Why didn't you just put the groceries down? Why did you risk your stupid, pathetic life like that?!"

Luffy blinked. "Because you were in trouble," he said plainly. "I had to make sure you didn't get hurt."

Nami dropped her arms to her sides, staring at Luffy with an expression of futile rage. "Why?"

"You're my nakama," he said, his tone unassuming. "I love you."

Nami opened her mouth to reply, and then stopped. A feeling like fire rising from the pit of her stomach to the top of her head swept through her, and she closed her mouth. He had _never_ said that to her before. She knew it was true. Of course he loved her; he loved all of them. But…something about the way he said it.

"You do?" was all she could say.

"Of course," said Luffy, his face splitting into one of those grins that was too wide to be natural but looked utterly perfect anyway.

Nami dropped onto her knees on the mattress, stared into Luffy's grinning face, and spent a long moment attempting to repress a swell of confusing emotions before giving up and simply saying "Oh." Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

Luffy, for his part, did not show the slightest sign of surprise. He moved one hand a few inches to the left so that it covered Nami's and kissed back.

A few seconds later, Nami shifted her weight to the hand Luffy was holding in order to slide the other across his bandaged torso and up to the juncture of his neck and shoulder, which she pinched. Hard.

"Ow!" Luffy exclaimed, looking up into Nami's face with a perplexed frown. "What was that for?"

"For being stupid," Nami said firmly. "Don't ever risk your life like that for me again."

"But–"

Nami pressed one finger to his lips, refusing to smile at the way he crossed his eyes to stare down at it. "Of course you're going to risk your life for me again. So will Sanji and Robin and Chopper and Usopp and even Zoro, and I'll risk my life for all of you. But next time, Luffy…" she smiled wryly and gave him a fond, admonishing gaze. "Put down the groceries."

Luffy blinked, then grinned, and waited for Nami to remove her finger from over his mouth and replace it with her lips before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her onto his wounded form with a typical lack of caution.

The next morning, the rest of the Straw Hats congregated in the galley for breakfast and to check the status of their captain. Chopper was first, followed by Sanji, whom the doctor had to force back out again. Robin came next, giving only an amused chuckle before going to console the distraught cook (who was noticeably less distraught when he reentered the galley). Usopp joined the growing crowd of uncharacteristically quiet pirates and contributed a bit of bemused staring and a lot of repressed snickers. Zoro was last to arrive, adding only a yawn and the words "Took 'em long enough" before sitting down, expectantly, for breakfast.

Usopp did manage to snap a picture of the captain and the navigator curled up front-to-front on the spare mattress, fingers tangled together, sleeping peacefully, approximately five seconds before the smell of bacon woke a decidedly healthier Luffy up. For revenge's sake.


End file.
